MSG.... how to use?

[Slink]

having heard about MSG for years, mostly from the chinese using it in there takeaways, I got some.

dont really know what it is or what it does, but Im interested to see what it does for normal food.

so how do I use it and how much do I use?

[Mastodon2]

It adds umami to your dishes. I've never tried it myself, though I've seen umami paste on sale in supermarkets for a while, which is pretty much the same thing. Just try sprinkling a bit over some fried tofu with chilli sauce and see what happens.

[Slink]

lol thanks for that, but I was talking about 'normal' food.

have never even seen tofu for sale let alone have some in my house to try that on.

[Bradgate]

When cooking chinese or other east asian recipes use MSG as a seasoning 'to taste' as you would with salt in western recipes. Generally in east asian cooking the saltiness comes from Soy sauce, and MSG adds umami (savoury) flavours.

[Slink]

well... that was different.

not wanting to make some nice food then waste it by adding MSG then finding out its ruined, i tried about a teaspoon of it in a tin of big soup.

an you know what, it has added that something, an extra layer of savouryness that it didnt have before.

[Pete Franklin]

I occasionally use it (sparingly) in spice rubs for kebabs or grilled meats. Half a teaspoon is normally enough for 2 portions. Too much and you can smell it (like cheap Chinese)

[Wadeski]

yeah, i wouldnt use more than half a teaspoon in a big dish (i.e. enough for 4 small eaters or two extra hungry people).

People talk badly of it, and claim it gives them headaches...very likely psychosomatic. If as many people genuinely do react to it as they claim, they would react to worcester sauce, miso, and all the other foods with high natural glutamates in them. It is, after all, just seaweed extract.

[Mobile Chicane]

MSG is a 'taste adder'.

If you like the effect, try the following in any savoury dish:

- Ground up dried mushrooms. Supermarket will do. Slice, dry over a radiator on paper towels, grind into a fine powder in a pestle and mortar and sprinkle into anything where the flavour could do with a boost.

- Seaweed. From Oriental food shops, ground up as above.

- 'Togarashi seasoning' (from Waitrose). Lovely sprinkled over salads.

[Slink]

might have to try that, the ground up mushrooms sounds like it good be good.

the other seasoning that you mentioned, I have no idea what that is or what it does, and I dont even have a morrisons near to me, but might be able to find some online.

[Wadeski]

Wait...why would you add ground up seaweed, rather than extract of ground up seaweed

[Mobile Chicane]

Wadeski said:

Wait...why would you add ground up seaweed, rather than extract of ground up seaweed

Whatever's to hand

[otolith]

The umami paste from the supermarket is lovely stuff, but it isn't pure glutamate. It's a paste of high glutamate foods, and tastes a bit like tapenade. I've recently been using it a lot in Mediterranean seafood dishes (squid, prawns, fried up in olive oil with garlic and chilli flakes, little plum tomatoes, blanched courgette or sliced runner beans, umami paste, lemon or lime juice). Lovely, but I wouldn't put it in an Asian dish (though I think I saw an Asian themed version the other day).

Mobile Chicane said:

- Ground up dried mushrooms. Supermarket will do. Slice, dry over a radiator on paper towels, grind into a fine powder in a pestle and mortar and sprinkle into anything where the flavour could do with a boost.

When I was an undergrad, I once had a girlfriend with a jar of something like that. Except they weren't supermarket mushrooms